Sony Cybershot P100 VX '640x480' movie mode is fake

I bought a Nikon Coolpix 3700 for its 640x480/30fps movie mode. I
returned it because of the notorious sync problem (audio lags video by
270ms). Got the P100, but 640 movie images appeared soft, 3700's were
much more detailed (chalk and cheese). Some research on the web found
the claim below, that Sony's 640 VX is only interpolated 320x240.
Suspiciously, the P100 offers only 640 and 160 modes--no 320
option--I'm guessing to prevent direct comparison.

Is this outright deception from "It's a Sony"? I was unhappy about
this enough to return an otherwise very good P&S camera and buy back
the 3700 (AU$200 cheaper, and I'll correct the lag with an editor; I
want and use true hi res video).

See also:

"Here's the skinny on the new MPEG-VX 640 x 480 movie recording mode.
It doesn't look any better than 320x240 movies!!!!

"The MPEG-VX mode is an interpolated MPEG-HQX 320x240. And trust
me.....I have tried and tried and tried to look for any difference
between the VX and HQX (320x240) or even HQ (also 320x240) movies.
There just simply isn't any discernable difference. I've even done
back to back comparisons between the three (using a DSC-P1 and
DSC-P9), and I have yet to find any difference.

"The most compelling evidence of interpolation is that the recording
times for a 128MB memory stick are identical for MPEG-HQX and MPEG-VX.
"

http://howstuffworks.shopping.com/xP...D-104205946500

Mark


PS Fine mode refers to frame rate, not resolution. The three P100
movie modes a

1. VX Fine - 640 x 480 pixels, 30 fps
2. VX Standard - 640 x 480 pixels, 16 fps
3. Low res mode - 160 x 112 pixels, ? fps

My comments refer to 1.